Pakistan has been divided into five provinces, Punjab, Sindh,
Srahad, Khyber Pakhtoon, Baluchistan and each province keep a unique cultural
diversity and ethnic composition. Among all the five provinces Baluchistan is
significant as it covered the 347,190 kilometers southern part of Pakistan and
considered a backward area as well. The population of Baluchi people has been
reported 12.34 million and 2.2 million people belong to Barahvi ethnic group
(Ahmad & Khan, 2017). Baluchistan relocates the people belongs to a
multicultural background, and they speak different languages (Ahmad & Khan,
2017). Numerous tribes make up the population of the Baluchistan, and three
significant tribes are known as, Baluch Pashtoon and Barahvi.
The most common languages of Baluchistan are Baluchi, Urdu, Pashtu,
and Brahui. Brahui is Dravidian language usually spoken in the central
Afghanistan and Baluchistan. The Ethnology Report (2013) stated that 4.2
million people speak Barahui throughout the world, and 4 million lives in Pakistan,
particularly in Baluchistan. According to Uneso Report (2007), the Brahui
language is one of 27 languages of Pakistan who is facing an adverse danger of
extinction (Naseer, & Gul Khan 2010). Baluchistan cultural land escape
portrays the diverse ethnic composition, social and cultural groups ( Janmahmad
1989).
Although the multi-ethnic
composition of Baluchistan depicts the diversities in linguistic, and sects
oriented aspects, on the other hand, similarities in, belief, religion, and
literature kept them united and maintained the social order in the land escape
of Baluchistan (Jahani, & Carina et al., (2003). The fundamental
characteristics of Barahvi culture are their ritual, hospitality, traditions,
and living standards. In particular, Barahvi culture is prominent due to the
hospitality and open-heartedness of its inhabitants. Guest is considered as a
blessing of God, and their accord is held and celebrated in high esteem (Jelty,
& Rajsheer, 2004).
Some people who belong to high socioeconomic status slaughters
animals specifically sheep's and cow to serve their guest with the belief that
people would descend their blessing upon them. Furthermore, the Brahui people
respect the guests of their tribe as their family members, i.e., the guest of
one house considered as a guest of the whole village. The women had to take
care of all the arrangements to entertain the guest regardless of their mental
or physical health. The Barahvi culture depicts the honesty and
open-heartedness and purity of people in a very alluring way that is hard to
find in the other modern civilized culture. In contrast, the place of Women is
not up to the mark; women treated very brutally like machines or slaves in this
culture due to their fragile structure.
The modern men are mechanical in advance areas of Pakistan, they do
not have time for hospitality, and their social life has limited to their blood
relation circle. Nobody knows what is happening in the next door, or the
participation in the neighborhood function has become so formal and
superficial.
The status of Women has been a topic of debate for many researchers
due to the so-called rituals. The women had been a victim of old tradition
throughout the history, which suggested that the low self-esteem, negative
self-concept, and emotional problems ratio has been high among them. The
marriages are solemnized similarly as in other culture in religious connect,
e.g., in the presence of the witness and Molvi (Baluch, & Khan, 1958). The
love marriage concept is forbidden and purely love marriages considered
secular. Like Baluchistan, the Barahvi tribe also follow the marriage ritual of
‘'Valver'' in which the groom had to pay some money to the parents of the
bridal. Currently, some studies suggest that the Valver ritual is decreasing
gradually, after several adverse social incidents (Dames, & Longworth,
1891). The ritual of Valver adversely affected the mental status of women, and
they consider themselves nothing more than the slaves. When a female born she
was taught to obey their husband like a slave, the equality and the status that
Islam has assigned to women has no importance in Brahvi culture. The females
have accepted that fact and feel like the slave as a normal part of life. They
do not raise their voices in response to cruelty or injustice.
The Baravi people express high pride and esteem after a boy baby
birth while they still exhibit lamenting reaction for female childbirth
(Baloch, & Marri,1974). The firing
gunshots in the air celebrate the celebration of male childbirth. The female
child feels rejected and manifests psychological disturbance, but on the other
hand, studies reported that the Barhvi females and child indicated the high
level of acceptance for their place. According to Literature the consistent
exposure to trauma decrease the intensity of grief and people start considering
the situation as a normal part of life (Marī, 1973). There are other unique
aspects of barahvi culture that distinguishes it from other cultures such as
their dressing sense, belief system regarding education, religious inclination,
profession, economic status and judicial systems (Marī, 1973).
Does all the traditions and rituals are still the same in the 21st
century or they celebrate the male and female childbirth similarly? If the
valver ritual has weakened, or still commemorate currently in Brahvi. The
hospitality of Brahvi culture is still the same as it has been described in the
literature or they have developed some latest trends in the 21st century. These
all aspects are imperative to investigate to promote the Women Status to update
the Nation about Brahvi culture.